DOT Restricts Chopper Flights Near DCA One Year After Crash

Jan. 23, 2026, 7:12 PM UTC

The Federal Aviation Administration is renewing restrictions on flights in the Washington area nearly one year after a mid-air collision between a US Army helicopter and a passenger jet that killed 67 people.

The move is a “key step” to “ensure an accident like this never happens again,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. Restrictions implemented last year were set to lapse, according to the Department of Transportation.

New restrictions would ban all but “essential” flights by “helicopters and powered-lift operating in the vertical-lift flight mode” in airspace over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport ...

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